Savage Garden is a two-man band hailing from
Brisbane, Australia. Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones
have already conquered their homeland with their
music, and in 1997, the duo found success all over
the world with their #1 hit, "I Want You."
While many Americans may have mistaken their sound
with the likes of Roxette,
Duran Duran or just another
British-techno-import with no face, the U.S. began to
recognize Savage Garden in 1997 as a talented
Euro-pop Australian duo prepared to save pop radio
from the likes of Hanson or the Spice Girls. Daniel and Darren met when
Daniel placed an ad in a newspaper looking for a
singer - for which Darren answered. The two musicians
played music together with other bands in Australia
when they decided to break off on their own (yet,
together) in 1994. The duo focused on songwriting and
creating a demo, and named themselves Savage Garden
from one of Anne Rice's novels (of which Darren is a
fan). Darren Hayes (born May 8, 1972 in Brisbane,
Australia) provides the lead vocals for the duo.
Daniel Jone's (born July 22, 1973 in Essex, England)
main contribution to the band is his talent for
programming and arranging the music, keyboard
playing, additional guitar and backing vocals.

Savage Garden first found success in Australia with
their hits "I Want You" and "To The
Moon And Back" from their debut LP, Savage
Garden.
"I Want You" became the biggest selling
single in Australia for the year. The song also hit
#1 (on The ARC Weekly Top 40) and hit the top spot in
Canada, Israel, and Turkey. Their second single
"To The Moon And Back" went to #1 in
Australia and was also a world-wide hit. Savage
Garden's third single "Truly Madly Deeply"
also hit #1 in Australia where it spent 8 weeks on
top, and became a Top 10 hit in the U.S. at the end
of 1997. Their LP, Savage
Garden,
spent 19 weeks at #1 in Australia.

"I Want You" gained a great deal of
additional exposure in the U.S. when Rosie O'Donnell
started playing snippets from the track on her talk
show. Savage Garden appeared on the show and sang an
acoustic version of "I Want You." The appearance introduced the
band to a larger American audience and showed that
the duo was not just another one-hit wonder, but
actually displayed some talent and personality.

Savage Garden had their first #1 on Billboard with
"Truly Madly Deeply" (which had the
unenviable distinction of knocking Elton John's "Candle In The Wind
1997" off the top) - and the song hit #1 on The ARC Weekly Top 40 by the end of
the month.

Savage Garden's LP was the 9th biggest-selling LP in
1998 with 3.2 million copies sold in the U.S. The duo
won 2 Billboard Music Awards for Top Hot 100 Airplay
Single and Top Adult Contemporary Single ("Truly Madly Deeply"), and a World Music
Award for Best-Selling Australian Artist/Group.
Savage Garden were nominated for a Brit Award for
Best International Newcomer and a European Music
Award for Best Song ("Truly Madly Deeply").
Savage Garden topped the Billboard Year-End Charts as the Top Pop Artist -
Duo/Group (singles & albums), and with the Top
Hot 100 Airplay Track and Top Hot Adult Contemporary
Track ("Truly Madly Deeply").

Hayes could be heard on the All-Star Tribute
benefit single "What's
Going On"
(with proceeds going to AIDS and 9/11 charities).

Savage Garden officially split up after Hayes
confirmed the decision to a journalist. Apparently,
Jones was unaware of the decision until hearing the
media report himself. Hayes was promoting his
upcoming solo LP, Spin.

Note: Song title and position
links lead you to the song's Top 40 chart run
(from the ARC Weekly Top 40) and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound samples).